Record low mortgage rates are giving a burst of energy to the sluggish South Florida economy with new homebuyers spending money on furniture, appliances and remodeling jobs while refinancing homeowners have extra money in their pockets with their lower monthly payments, economists said.

FLA Finance & Leasing Association : Second charge mortgage repossessions fall to a record lowCommenting on the figures, Fiona Hoyle, Head of Consumer and Mortgage Finance at the FLA, said: 'Helping customers in financial difficulty to get back on track is a priority for the second charge mortgage market. This is reflected in the low number of ...02/7/2018 - 9:07 pm | View Link

Rising rent payments taking up record amounts of incomeIt also makes it harder to get out of debt, or save for retirement. But there is a bright spot. Low mortgage rates are making it easier to buy or pay off a home. So check your finances and budget. Who knows, a move may be in your future.06/29/2016 - 9:34 am | View Link

Former ‘Donkey Kong’ record holder’s cartoon suit tossedThe Hollywood, Fla., man has had a long, successful career in video games and is known for his long, dark hair and beard, and wardrobe of a black shirt and pants and American flag tie. “The television character does not match the plaintiff in appearance ...11/23/2015 - 4:59 am | View Link

Car prices hit record as buyers load up on optionsSince bank interest rates run as low as 2 percent and automakers offer no-interest financing, buyers now have a choice between a lower payment or a nicer car. Unlike rising mortgage rates ... demand for cars also is helping to drive up prices.10/9/2013 - 5:30 pm | View Link

Today's Stock Market News and AnalysisGet the latest news and analysis in the stock market today, including national and world stock market news, business news, financial news and more.03/15/2018 - 8:37 pm | View Website

U.S. Mortgage Market Statistics: 2017MagnifyMoney has the latest mortgage debt statistics — who gets home financing, how mortgages are structured, and how Americans are managing our debt.03/15/2018 - 11:48 am | View Website

When to Apply for a Mortgage Without Your SpouseIt may sound crazy to apply for a mortgage without your spouse, but being the sole name on the mortgage application could actually make sense.03/15/2018 - 7:16 am | View Website

Business News, Personal Finance and Money NewsFind the latest business news on Wall Street, jobs and the economy, the housing market, personal finance and money investments and much more on ABC News03/14/2018 - 5:11 pm | View Website

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Bill Gates' new favorite book is "Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker.
Pinker's book makes a case that rational thought and scientific inquiry are constantly improving the world.
We're living in the safest era of human history, according to Pinker's analysis.
Bill Gates' favorite author recently published a new book — and Gates has already called it his "favorite book of all time," on his blog.

REUTERS/Mohammad Khursheed
Starbucks is debuting a new, over-the-top Frappuccino — called the Crystal Ball Frappuccino — on Thursday, according to baristas.
The turquoise, peach-flavored Frappuccino is engineered for Instagram and will be on the menu for less than a week.
The Crystal Ball Frappuccino follows in the footsteps of the instantly viral Unicorn Frappuccino as Starbucks attempts to reinvent its Frappuccino strategy after a rough 2017.

Enlarge / Stephen Hawking speaks via satellite during the Science Channel portion of the 2010 Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena, California. (credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
I first met Stephen Hawking in March 2003, when the most famous scientist in the world visited Texas. For a young science reporter at the Houston Chronicle, an invitation to interview Hawking during a stop in College Station rated as a real coup.
Reporters never like to submit their questions to a subject in advance; indeed it is something I often refuse to do.

Erin Brodwin / Business InsiderI've been ignoring my mother for a week and a half.
For the past 10 days, I've stifled the small voice she instilled in the back of my mind to remind me that forgoing breakfast is nutritional doom — all for the sake of a diet known as intermittent fasting.
The diet essentially involves abstaining from food for a set period of time ranging from 16 hours to several days — and surprisingly, it has a lot of scientific backing.
Large studies have found intermittent fasting to be just as reliable for weight loss as traditional diets.

Enlarge / This headset will give you a much sharper image and a much lighter wallet than the original Vive. (credit: Sam Machkovech)
HTC's higher-resolution Vive Pro, first announced back in January, is setting new records for the price of a mass-market virtual reality headset. In pre-orders starting today ahead of planned April 5 shipments, customers will have to shell out $799 for the improved Vive Pro headset, a price that does not include any controllers or Lighthouse tracking base stations.
While the original Vive also cost $799 when it launched nearly two years ago, that package included two controllers and the two tracking stations necessary for un-occluded, room-scale VR.

In the years before (and even some years after) the Game Boy revolutionized the portable gaming market, self-contained, single-serving LCD games were the best electronic gaming-on-the-go many of us could hope for. The Internet Archive has now captured a handful of these proto-examples of portable gaming for play in the Web browser, via MAME-powered emulation.
The Archive's just-launched Handheld History Collection captures a menagerie, including Coleco's miniature LCD Ms.